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The Silver Key
THIS CONTAINS SOME MEMBERS OF THE WIKI, MOST I CAN THINK OF. IF YOU ARE NOT INCLUDED I'M SORRY!!!!!!!!!!! AND I'M PUTTING THE PG-13 NOTICE UP JUST IN CASE IDK HOW ITS GONNA TURN OUT. IF IT TURNS OUT APPROPRIATE FOR CHILDREN UNDER 12/13 THEN I WILL REMOVE IT. The Silver Key ''' Chapter 1: The Silver Key "They key to WHAT?!" you might ask. "You've reeled us in and all you talk about is the key, but not what they key opens!" Strange and frusterating, isn't it? Surprisingly, members of the Animal Jam Wiki fell in this sort of predicament as well, unable to figure out WHAT this mystical key opened. In fact, most hardly knew what the key was itself! Don't understand? It IS confusing. Perhaps the story will clear things up: First of all, my name is PuppyGirl1244, but most call me Puppy or Pup for short. And some best of the best (okay that's self-proclaimed BUT SERIOUSLY I AM). I'm a member of the AJ Wiki, edit a lot and share the same hatred of our enemy Animal Jam HQ. Just another ordinary user. Another ordinary user embarking on a not-so-ordinary quest. You see, it was one dark night, but that night, Gray, the leader of the wiki, had organized an in-person meeting in an old beat-up shack in the middle of the country. Surprisingly, it wasn't too hard to reach. Apparently, Sageleaf, the founder of the wiki, had originally created this area as a meeting spot for all wiki members, and back in the days it looked much more in-tact. But I guess years' passing will do that to anything. It was a joy, getting to see all the other members of the wiki in person, learning more about them and chatting without getting your fingers sore. We all sat on the dusty floor of that shack, talking amongst ourselves about random things. "Where is Gray?" asked Icefern. "He should be in here by now." Caspiea shrugged. "This is an in-person meeting, if you haven't noticed. He might be preparing. You have to admit, this is a lot for a regular fellow who chats virtually." Anakin was lying on the ground sleep, while Mango, sitting next to him, drew a mustache and beard. Mackenzie snickered. I leaned back on my arms and sighed. "This is strange, you know. But I do wonder why he's scheduled an in-person meeting rather than a virtual one." Suddenly, the door swung open. "GRAYSTRIPE IS DEAD!" Luna screamed. "WHAT?!" cried Diamond. Mackenzie fainted. Froststar tilted her head. "Really?" "I'm not dead," said a voice with obvious agitation. Graystripe walked inside. "I said the wiki would be dead, not me." This time, Skyhaley fainted and Frost shrieked, "The Wiki would be dead?" Gray put his face in his hands. "Only if we decided to filter in other games with this. Then ANIMAL JAM wiki would be dead and possibly reported for being off-topic." Luna crossed her arms. "Well, its quite windy outside so its hard to hear!" "And why would you consider me dead IF I WAS TALKING TO YOU?" said Gray. Luna threw her hands in the air. "Hey, I just listen to watcha tell me and spread the word. You can't blame me for that!" "Anyway," said Gray, shaking his head, "the reason I have gathered you all here is to report a very interesting find." "Interesting find?" asked Lunifer. "Yeah, that's your problem, don't care," said Flaming. Reka elbowed him. Rolling his eyes, Gray said, "I got a strange message yesterday, with the Wikia signature on it." He pulled out a sheet of paper and read: "Wikier You and your wiki have done amazing in your wiking quests. You have been entrusted with the Silver Key. Use it wisely and safely." We all blinked. "So let me get this straight," said Klint. "Because this wiki has done so well, they've given us some random key?" "A SILVER key," said Ilovejamaa. "The Key to the City maybe?" asked Lilypop. "Yeah sure...but what city?" asked Icefern. "It probably doesn't open any city," said Katniss. "It might open some sort of locket." "Does it open any treasure to gold?" asked Flaming, "because unless it does I really don't care about it." "Well," said Chief standing up, "I think we could get a better idea of its meaning once we see it. Gray, show us the key." Gray paused, then said, "That's the problem. I don't have it." "What?" "They gave me this note. That's it." The shed was silent. "So they 'entrust' you with a key and don't even give it to you?" I said. "Some folks are idiots," said Mango, who had by now finished drawing on Anakin. Anakin was just starting to stir and wake. "Yeah...it was pretty stupid," said Gray, facepalming. "But I think they might want us to find it." "Whoa whoa whoa," said Tornado, standing up. "They 'entrust' you with a key but force you to search and find it on your own? Then its not entrusting. Its sending off on some quest." "Probably too lazy to simply go ahead and just give it to us," said Icefern. "Maybe they entrusted us to go on the quest?" piped up Universal. "Yeeeeeeeeeeeeah no," said Reka. "Well, if we are to get this key," said Gray, "we must set off to find it." "Okay," said Lunifer, "so...where is it? Are there any clues on where to find it? A map, GPS, anything?" "That's the other problem," said Gray, "there's no map, pretty much no guides onto finding this thing." Evilrainbow threw her hands in the air. "THAT'S IT!" "I'm outta here," said Mario. "They didn't even ATTEMPT to think this through?!" snapped Anakin. "So lemme get this straight," said Chief, "they told us we were entrusted with some random mystery key and won't even help us find it!" Gray shrugged and sighed. Universal thought for a second, then said, "Can I see that letter?" Gray nodded then handed it to her. Uni scanned it carefully. "Hmm..." She then rubbed her thumb on the side of the sheet. "What is it?" I said, scooting next to her and looking at the paper. "There's a certain pattern on the paper texture...strange but in sync...does anyone have a blue light?" Everyone shook their heads, but then Pookie shot up. "Oh, I do! I always keep a little blue-lit flashlight with me. Looks a lot cooler than regular light." Everyone else exchanged a look. How surprisngly convienant. Uni took the flashlight and shone it over the paper. "Aha! Just as I expected." A few words shone brightly, glowing in a sense. They read: ''In order to obtain the Silver Key, you must look and think beyond the obvious. Venture to the highest peak to find it. You shall not regret your decisions unless you make incorrect ones.'' "WHAT THE HECK?!" "Who writes these things?" asked Frost. "Someone who surprisingly has enough time and patience to do so," said Caspiea. "Well, this might be enough information we need," said Uni, handing back the flashlight to Pookie. "Well, we know there's some high peak," said Fishgirl. "Yeah, but it says think beyond the obvious," said Icefern. "So...highest peak in...economy? Thinking?" "Ever heard of reverse phsycology?" asked Flaming. "They'd make it seem contained to just that. I say go up to that super high hill me n' Rek passed while getting here. Seems the highest out of all in here." We all blinked. "What? I'm just pretty sure this key of theirs is gonna open some chest containing gold." "Well...I guess its worth a shot," said Tornado. "Hmm...alright. How far away is that hill?" "Quite a bit. Possibly two days walk?" "TWO DAYS?" "Well," said Gray, "we might as well get to it if so. AJ Wiki, are you sure you are ready for this?" "Duh, why wouldn't we be?" said Mango. "I better not regret this," said Evil. I nodded. I was boiling with excitement. I've always wanted an adventure. I'd finally get it... I did agree with Evil though. I hoped not to regret this. "Well then," said Chief, standing by Gray's side, "let's go." Chapter 2: The Quicksand Gray went out first, followed by Chief, then the rest of us followed. The night was cold, and the cool air blew against us. "Part of me has a feeling we're gonna regret this," said Mario, rubbing his arms to keep warm. "You aren't the only one," said Digipony, and on cue she sneezed. The ground was wet and muddy; everywhere we stepped seemed to cause our ankles to get wet, therefore more cold. "So, where are we going exactly?" asked Ferro. "Up to some hill," said Gray. "Not just 'some hill'," said Reka. "That thing is huge. I'm pretty sure there's no higher peak around here." "Well, if that is the case," said Gray. He stopped. "Why don't you lead?" "Well, I was the one who originally suggested it," said Flaming, "so personally I think I should be the one who--" "Fine, you both lead." Flaming grinned, Reka put her face in her hands. "Alright AJ Wiki, forward march!" "What?" said Anakin. "Just let's go alrighty?!" Caspiea sighed, and now it was Gray's turn to put his face in his hands. We all continued walking. But I noticed the mud going from my ankles to my lower leg, and then to my knees. "What the heck--" "Ugh, this stupid mud," said Mackenzie. "Its almost like we are sinking..." said Diamond. "Sinking..." I said, suddenly my eyes widened. "EVERYONE QUICK, JUMP TO YOUR RIGHT!" "Why?" "Just don't move or continue walking..." But I don't think a few folks in the front could hear me. Suddenly, Lilypop shrieked, "I'M STUCK!" I slapped my forehead. I was right. Quicksand. "How the heck is quicksand here?" cried Mario. Rek and Flaming struggled to get out. "I don't remember seeing this when I came," said Dragon. So far, Icefern, Flaming, Rek, Chief, Lilypop, and Gray were stuck in that quicksand. "Ohmygosh we're gonna die! We're gonna dieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee," wailed Lilypop. "SHUT YOUR POTHOLE!" yelled Flaming. "Guys, please calm down," said Chief. "Um, guys, can you help us out?" We all nodded, then ran around in a frenzy. "We need to find a long stick or vine," said Universal. "Eeeeeeeeeeeek!" cried Mango. We turned around just to see she and Klint fall in. "Greeeeeeeeeat," said Klint. "We're siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinking!" shrieked Lilypop. "The more you panic, the faster you shrink," informed Icefern, but that only made Lily panic more. "Oh gosh guys! We can't find anything to get you outta there!" cried Mackenzie. Lily started crying. "Oh gosh PLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEASE get us out!" cried Mango. "Or at least her. I don't want to spend my last five minutes with Miss Bawly McPants." Gray whacked her upside her head. "Well, not meaning to sound childish or anything," said Klint, "but what did Brady--from Brady's Lab on AJ--say to do in case of quicksand?" "Lean back and RELAX," said Icefern, glaring at Lily, who by now had stopped crying to tear apart Mango. "So, that's pretty much what we should do," said Gray. "And we'd better hurry," said Chief, who had the quicksand up to her neck. "Okay guys, lean back, relax, and refloat!" said Caspiea. "Let's cheer 'em on!" said Mackenzie. "I'd rather not..." started Anakin. After we all shot him a glare he chanted, "REFLOAT! REFLOAT! REFLOAT!" We all chanted: "REFLOAT! REFLOAT! REFLOAT!" For Flaming, Rek, Mango, Klint, Chief, Icefern, and Gray it was encouragement. For Lilypop it was too much pressure. "I don't know if I can do this..." she said. "JUST FLOAT!" yelled Mango. As if being startled did it, she leaned back and POP, refloated. Then we all cheered as the members of the wiki crawled out. "Ugh, I'm in desperate need of a shower," said Rek, flicking off some of the mud. "Which one of us isn't?" said Mango. "Well," said Gray, dusting himself off, "we still need to get going. Flaming, Rek, still lead the way--but next time try NOT to lead us into quicksand." They both grinned, with a face full of guilt. "Yessir." I thought I heard Rek whisper to Flaming, "I'm real glad you didn't drown in that quicksand, because I'm two seconds from killing you." Chapter 3: The Wild Side NunyaPie yawned, and I followed. Boy, it had to be about 10 PM at night. We were desperate to set up camp, curl up into a little ball and sleep, but we couldn't. We were just a large group of kids. I mean, the oldest one among us was Klint, and she's 17! Most of the rest of us were 11-14. With all the sickos in teh world, it was too unsafe to sleep. We must keep alert and walking. "How much longer?" asked Katniss. "I said it was a two days' walk!" said Flaming. "Oh gosh!" cried Caspiea. "We can't walk straight for two days!" Gray stopped. "Then maybe we should set up camp." "We can't," said Chief. "Too dangerous." "Not if we keep watch," said Gray. "We all will take a turn in groups of three to keep watch for about two hours each. If anyone sees anything suspicious, they will wake up the others. Who volunteers to go first?" "I volunteer to stay up the entire time," said Klint. "Not that tired anyway." "I'm staying with Klint," said Deputron. "But only for one watch." "I wanna stay up!" said Mango, grinning mischeviously. "Okay, you three take first watch. Who takes next?" "I volunteer," I said. "Me too," said Anakin. "Me three," said Universal. "I'm staying up the entire time," said Klint. "Okay, so you four next." After all the kinks were worked out, everyone except the first shift fell asleep. "Puppy, wake up," I heard a voice say. I looked up to see Mango staring at me. "Thank goodness, I'm beat. Your turn. G'night." It was just Anakin, Universal, Klint, and me. Klint looked like she would doze off any moment, Anakin was grumbling about something and writing in the dirt with a stick, Universal was looking up at the stars, and I was just staring in the distance. This was some adventure we were having, yet overall it was scary. "Soo...strange isn't it? We get to meet each other in person." I was just trying to spark conversation. Anakin shrugged. Klint nodded. Universal said, "Yeah. Still wondering why its in person though. I mean, if it was going to be face-to-face a more reliable thing to do would be to use Skype, or some other device." "Yeah, but not everyone has Skype, or is allowed to have it," said Klint. "I really don't care either way," said Anakin. He sighed. "I only wish Lily could've been here. Always wanted to meet her in person. But she had computer issues and probably didn't get the notice about coming. Ugh, if I could just smash her computer for her..." Uni patted his back. "Don't sweat it, Anakin," said Klint. "Maybe when her computer's fixed they'll host another in-person meeting. Or something. Or you two could Skype..." "I do agree. It would've been fun for her to join," I said. I looked back out into the distance, sighing. I was bored, and pretty hungry as well. Plus my mind was spinning with excitement. We'd met each other on the wiki, and were going on an adventure. But mixed in with that excitement was cold-blooded fear. Would we survive? Would we wind up as a group of kids on the news? Puppy, relax. I just had to focus on that growing dot in the distance, well all of those growing dots-- Wait, what? I jumped to my feet narrowing my eyes. Those dots were growing faster than mold on a ham sandwhich. Soon, I could make out eyes, tails, paws, face, stripes... Ohmygosh This would be wonderful if they weren't running so fast and everyone else was sleep. "GUYS!" I cried, pointing to the figures racing towards us. Uni looked and sprang up. "EVERYONE WAKE UP!" Klint sprung to her feet. "TIGERS!" Everyone moaned and groaned, but once they saw the animals they jumped up, gasping. "AJ WIKI, RUN!!!!!!!" yelled Gray. "Kitty!" I cried. I mean, seriously, they looked adorable. Sure they would tear you apart but still they were soo cute. But I wasn't going to cost anyone else a life. I ran along with the others. "So lemme get this straight," panted Mario. "Not only is there random quicksand here, but a large group of tigers comes out of no where and chases us. What, is this some sort of Endurance Reality TV show?" "I'm confused on where the tigers came from too," said Caspiea. "Either escaped from the zoo or this world's a lot crazier than normal." "Ima go with that last one," said Flaming. Suddenly, I heard a shriek. Nunya had tripped over something, and now was lying flat down on the ground, with the tigers approaching. "NUNYA!" But Anakin was quick. He ran over to her, helped her up, and held his back to the tigers, almost serving as a shield. We all shrieked as we watched the tigers surround him. We heard cries of pain and then everything went silent. "THATS IT!" I yelled, running into the tigers. "WHAT THE HECK IS WRONG WITH YOU GUYS? THIS ISN'T APPROPRIATE BEHAVIOR! JUST GOING UP ON HUMANS WILL GET YOU KILLED. WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS????????" The tigers looked at me shocked, wondering why I was yelling. "I'm sure you guys are better than this. I mean, what did that boy ever do to you? And don't tell me your that hungry." The tigers tilted their heads, eyes showing that was just it. "Awwwww!" I cried, heart melting. I looked around franticly. Then, in the cracks of the trees, I spotted multiple moose. "Guys, look over there," I said, pointing. They all swung their heads to see the animals. Eyes widening, they ran to it. "See? You don't have to hurt humans, who in the end will only hurt you." One tiger stayed there, paw still on Anakin, who was not in too good of shape and gasping. I gently pet him, hoping he wouldn't attack. To my surprise, he didn't. "Go on, go get that food," I said gently, nudging him to the other tigers. He gently licked my hand, then ran off. I swept my hands and turned around. Everyone else was staring at me like I was the new Circus Oddball. "What? You catch more flies with honey than vinegar." They tilted their heads. "Well, THAT was unexpected," said Chief. Nunya looked down. "Anakin saved my life." We all looked to him. The poor boy. Clothes torn, all bloody, bite marks and scratches all over, his eyes were rolling and the only sound he made was a moan. "Poor guy," said Klint. "Oh well, he just had bad luck. Can't save 'im. Let's go," said Flaming. "He's still alive," I said. "We can't just leave him like this." "Yeah. We'll get sued--er--that's not the right thing to do," said Reka. "So, how do we bring him?" asked Uni. "We'll cross that bridge when we come to it," said Gray. "For now, we all should go back to sleep. Next shift, your turn." Chapter Four: Halluctionations ''Contains spelling errors--I know. Will fix later.'' *Ching, ching, ching* I woke up to bright and burning sunlight in my eyes. I felt extremely hot, my head throbbing in pain, and felt cool droplets of sweat on my neck. Moaning, I sluggishly sat up. I looked around at my Wiki-Mates. About all of them were still sleep, most of which with sunlight on their faces as well. I’m normally the one to wake up before everyone else. I guess my body’s scheduled to a certain Wake-Up time. Almost as if I have a built-in alarm clock. *Ching, ching, ching* But I think my built-in alarm clock wasn’t what woke me up this morning. There was this chiming sound, but I didn’t know what it was. I stood up, yawning, and turned my head in the direction of the sound. I saw Klint and Dep, crouched down and huddled over something. Curiosity taking the best of me—I admit it was one of my weaknesses—I walked over to them. “Hey guys. Up so early? What’cha doing?” Deputron lifted his head up, gave a faint smiled, and nodded his head as to say hello. Klint glanced up at me, her hair falling over one eye. “Hey, Puppy. Just working on something. Did we wake you…?” I shook my head. “It’s fine. What is it?” I leaned over so I could see what they were working on. All I saw was what to appear to be a wagon, bright red, when Klint immediately panicked and leaned to the side, obstructing my view. “Don’t ruin the surprise! You’ll see later, once everyone else is up.” I shrugged. “Mmkay. Although I’ve already seen some of it and I’m guessing it’s a new means of transportation, but alright I’ll try to forget it.” I like doing that. I heard a thud, probably Dep slamming his face onto the side of the wagon, and Klint looked like she was trying not to laugh. I walked back to where the other Wiki Members were sleeping. I sat next to a tree, leaning against it, and waiting for them to wake up. When the last person woke up—Cody, who slept for like ever—Klint and Dep rolled something concealed under a sheet to us. “Hello, AJ Wiki members!” said Klint. Dep stood by her, shifting from foot to foot, head held high and grinning. “Well, as you know, following the injury of one of our members…” Klint gestured towards Anakin, who was sitting up and moaning. “…we have found ourselves in a tight predicament in terms of easily transportation.” I knew it. “So, Deppie and I have worked on and created THIS!” Deputron grabbed the sheet and pulled it back. The Wiki members awed. I was right, it WAS a wagon, but it wasn’t just a simple one. The bright-red wagon was large, quite large, probably able to fit a large amount of us. On the back of the wagon I saw what appeared to be turbo-propellers on the back. The wagon had giant, black spiked wheels, leather seats and straps, a steering wheel, and even a cup-holder. “Dude,” said Caspiea. “You managed to build THAT in one night—in the middle of nowhere?” “Where’d you get those materials from?” asked Chief, eyes widened. “Yet you couldn’t whip a magical sword from the sky to fight those tigers,” grunted Mario. Diamond shot him a glare. “Anyway, this’ll provide as much transportation as we need. One of us can drive it—probably me, of course, being old enough to drive and as long as Reka and Flaming can provide the directions we’re pretty much good to go.” Klint looked up grinning as large as Dep did. The two stood beside their invention. “Well, Gray?” Gray looked it down, then said, “Klint. That is the most awesome thing I have seen this far. What do you say, Wiki?” Nunya broke from the crowd, jumped into it, and said, “What’re you guys waiting for? Let’s GO.” We rode for quite a while—about 5 hours maybe. Luna leaned out, so her head was across the side of the wagon, Nunya was playing with something on the seats, Roadhawk was asleep, and Lunifer whined, “How much longer?” “Quite a bit—be patient,” said Klint, hunched over the steering wheel and looking restless herself. Flaming sat next to her, helping guide the way. Gray started to doze off, and Chief was just staring at the view. The trail was bumpy, and the rhymetic but drastic bumps were quite nerve-wracking—the problem is, even after a few hours of it, we STILL didn’t adjust to it. I didn’t blame Lunifer for getting sick of it. Suddenly, I noticed the bumps getting deeper, and deeper, and our speed getting slower… Until finally we stopped altogether. “Wha—” started Chief. “What happened?” asked Diamond, stiffening up. Klint opened the front door of the wagon, and walked out. Kneeling over, she examined the bottom, then stood up and kicked it. “Ugh—flat tire. Going to have to make a pit-stop for now.” “Will the wagon be up and working soon?” whined Mango. “Don’t wanna wait tooooo long.” Dep stood next to Klint. “Hmm…unsure yet. But be patient.” “I guess we can just wait here until they give us feedback on the wagon,” said Universal. “In the meanwhile, we can discuss some wiki changes…?” We exchanged looks then shrugged. “Alright.” It wasn’t until an hour when Klint and Dep came back to us. “Bad news—the wagon’s pretty blown. Take quite a bit to fix her.” We moaned. “Gee, thanks a whole bunch, guys,” hissed Flaming. “You reel us in with a ‘great technological improvement’ only to drop us like a hot potato!” “Now, now, it’s not the time to be pointing fingers,” said Chief. “Chief’s right.” Graystripe sighed. “ Look like we are walkin’ again.” We moaned again. So we were back to walking again. Klint and Dep dragged the wagon—I’m guessing for some impossible hope of fixing it—and we trudged down the bumpy path. “So—how far is the hill now?” asked Icefern. “Eh—quite a bit. Don’t expect to be there any time soon,” said Rek. “Actually, do expect it. It isn’t nearly as far as it was before,” said Flaming. Rek snorted. “On the bright side,” said Diamond. “This is excellent exercise!” “There are times for exercising,” said Dylan, “and there are times when you are actually fed up and tired and want to get along with things. One of the reasons they invented the car.” “Or, in some cases, the wagon,” said Cody, glaring at Klint. “I just hope this ‘Silver Key’ thing is worth it,” sighed Fishgirl. “I can tell you, it better be!” snapped Road. Vill nodded in agreement. “I am also hoping there’s no more ‘eventful activity’,” said Caspiea. “Already fed up after the tigers incident. Hope we can just simply walk in peace, get this key, and leave.” Suddenly, we heard a loud crack. “Eh?” “Someone’s back probably needs intensive medical care.” Suddenly—I felt a low tremor in the ground. Oh gosh—earthquake?! “What’s going on?” cried Cody. Suddenly, I felt the ground give way beneath me—then a stomach quaking drop. I’d just gotten sight of Gray, Caspiea, Road, Klint, Nunya, Lunifer, Flaming and Icefern falling with me. "Aww, poop," I thought I heard Road say. Was hard to make sense of what was around me while free-falling blindly into who-knows-what, but I know there was a scream...multiple screams actually…and my mouth was open. I lurched forward, and felt a hard impact, pain shooting through my arms, chest, legs—well my entire body, which could only mean I’d hit the ground. I promise you, I have no idea how I survived that. Groaning, I got to my feet, and rubbed my eyes. Then, I took in my surroundings. Stone. Plain stone, stretching as far as the eye could see. Jagged rocks scattered around. Low, thick fog, engulfing the landscape, but clear enough that I could just see things near me. And there was not another being in sight. “Guys?” I called. No answer. I began walking. “Roadhawk? Caspiea? Gray?” Nada. “Klint, Lunifer, Nunya? Ice?” No reply. Suddenly, I felt my stomach lurch again, but this time it wasn’t from a drop. I was all alone. Suddenly, panic over took me. How did I get here? Where would I go? Would I be killed or kidnapped or ambushed? What would my parents think? Would I just have to stay here and starve to death? It was chilly, so I folded my arms and rubbed them, shivering. If starvation didn't claim my life, I was sure the temperature would’ve. Suddenly, I heard a rustle. I looked up, alert. “Guys?” Quite partculiar to hear a rustle in a landscape full of ROCKS, which would mean it was probably rushed footsteps. Small footsteps, however. I walked towards the sound. The closer I got, the louder the rustles got, and soon I began hearing a squeak. Whatever it was, it was becoming behind one large, jagged rock. I slowly approached the rock, then walked around it to see what it was. I gasped, and slammed my hand against my mouth to stifle a scream. Standing right before me, was a 6-inch tall cookie. I’m not kidding. The cookie was crispy, with a couple chocolate chunks around the face, two large, wide, obviously scared eyes, one chocolate chunk right beneath them—which I assumed was the nose—and a clean-cut mouth, which appeared to be pressed into a line in order to suppress its own scream. It had two legs, quite skinny, and two arms, stretching from what could’ve been the cookie’s cheeks. Whatever it was, it wasn’t something you would see any day. The cookie-thingy-what –the-heck-is-it looked up at me, trembling, then ran, hiding behind the other end of the rock. Curiousity taking over me, I followed it. “Hiya! Hey, don’t worry, I don’t bite. Well—I won’t.” The cookie looked up at me, trembling. “It’s okay.” I picked it up and held it to show that I wouldn’t hurt it. It was still trembling as I held it against me. Random cookie creatures in the middle of nowhere? Goodness, this was an adventure of nonsense! Then, the cookie stopped trembling, leaned over and kissed me on the cheek. That was a surprise. Then, it jumped from my arms and ran off. I stood there dumbfounded. Then, all of the sudden, I saw a speck. A brown little speck in the distance—growing rapidly. As it got closer, I made out chocolate chips, eyes, arms—oh gosh, a whole colony of cookie beings! Suddenly, they engulfed me, lifting me up. “Hey!” All I know is I was being carried forward by Cookie People. I could barely see a thing, due to the speed and the fog clouding my vision. Suddenly, I stopped, and I was thrown forward onto the ground. I quickly got to my feet, rubbed my eyes, and looked around. So much for the stone landscape. I was in some sort of kingdom. The ground was pink, lollipop trees stood broad. In the distance, I could see a giant castle, standing tall and broad. There was a chocolate river, and upon hearing the rush of waves, I even spotted a giant chocolate waterfall! And how active was it! Not only were there cookie people walking around, but puppies—yes puppies—cute, big eyed puppies, minding their own business. Near the castle, kittens strolled around, going to and fro. Ferrets scampered around, poking their noses into the soft, pink ground, and bunnies splashed in the chocolate river. “My, my, some land you have here!” I said, awed at the sight. Suddenly, at the sound of my voice, all the creatures froze and turned towards me. “Huh?” The Cookie People stiffened, narrowed their eyes. The animals pulled back their lips in a snarl. “Ummm…” Then, a Cookie Person, walked towards me. I recognized him as the one I held earlier. His once innocent and wide eyes were now narrowed, pupils gone, and red. Mouth in an ugly snarl. Suddenly, he threw back his head, and squeaked. And that’s when they all attacked. I shrieked as a surge of pain shot through my leg. A kitten sank its claws—now giant and extremely sharp—deep into my leg. I shook it off. My head throbbed as a bunny hopped onto it and sank its teeth into my ear. I didn't want to HURT these little things—they were too cute. But I didn’t have a choice. If I didn't do anything, I’d be dead. I bit my lip, hoping to take my mind off the pain surging through my body, made a fist, and punched in front of me. My fist made contact with something fuzzy, and I saw three ferrets and a bunny fly backwards. I grabbed the bunny on my ear and slammed it into the ground. I kicked a puppy away from me and stomped on a Cookie Person. A sharp pain dug into my back, and I reached around to grab whatever it was, until pain hit my wrists as well. “Aww, great,” I said, pulling my wrists forward to find two ferrets with their teeth in them. I slammed my wrists together, making them both go limp and fly off, until something pushed me down. I shrieked through my gritted teeth, the pain sharp and strong, everywhere. My vision was clouded with fuzz, but I could make out red specks. Probably all my blood. Sharp claws, I suppose, dug into my neck. I struggled to get up, tears rolling down my face. I could barely see a thing. I was on my two feet, but the way they were pushing implied that I would be falling again. And this time—I wouldn’t be getting up. I shut my eyes, bracing death. Well, I had a good life and— Suddenly, I felt something clamp around my wrist. I figured it was another animal or Cookie Person, and I was too tired to care. But then, I was pulled forward. And found myself running. What…? I opened my eyes, and regained my vision. There was Gray, holding my wrist, running with me, Caspiea and Road by his side. I’d never been so happy to see them. “Guys! Thank goodness! What the heck happened?” I turned back around, in the direction of the animals and Cookie People—but they had disappeared. We were back in that rocky terrain again. Road was holding Caspiea’s wrist. Cas didn't look in any good shape. She was pale, her eyes wide, trembling, Road’s jacket over her shoulder. What’d happened? “Hard…to explain…” Gray panted. He didn’t look too good a shape either. He looked pretty tired, scratches all over his face. Road just looked angry. His hair was wild, dried blood on the side of his face—eesh. Were they ambushed by the animals and Cookie People too? “…but we all were in some sort of hallucination. I don’t know for sure—what were you fighting?” I tilted my head. He didn't see them? “Fuzzy animals and these weird mutant cookie people thingies.” Gray shook his head. “Just what I suspected. For some reason, we all were ambushed by hallucinations in forms of things we apparently are interested in.” He stopped for a second to catch his breath. “For instance—erm…I was attacked by parrots.” Typical. “Yeah…” Caspiea looked up, eyes flashing with fury and shock. “I saw Cry and Garry. Both seemed epic at first ‘till they both turned at me. Fought ‘em off best I could—still shocked on how they could turn on ME of all people.” “I was ambushed by wumbo,” said Road, shaking his head. I stared at him. “Wumbo?” “Yeah. Horrid too.” I raised an eyebrow. “And what exactly does wumbo look like—and how does it attack?” Roadhawk hesitated, then said, “Hard to explain, really. Just it looked epic and it hurt horribly.” Well then. “So, NONE of it was real?” I said, eyes widen. “Yup,” replied Gray, dusting himself off. “So, we couldn’t have died or anything?” Gray shrugged. “Eh—not going to say that. My theory is you would’ve died due to a higher blood pressure, panic, fear. Possible heart attack or hyperventilation. And any reactions, such as falling, swatting at yourself, etc could cause harm—as shown by the marks on all of us.” I nodded. “Well—we gotta get goin’. Gotta save Nunya, Lunifer, Flaming, and Ice.” “And Klint,” reminded Road. “Uh—yeah, sure.” It didn’t take long to find Nunya. Mainly because her screams were heard from a mile away. When we DID find her, we saw her, wide-eyed and screaming, backing away from what appeared to be air. “Help! *cough* HELP!” I ran in, grabbed her by the wrist, and pulled her away. “Nunya! Nunya, you okay?” Her eyes were glossed over, and she looked around dumbfounded. Suddenly, she shook her head, blinked, then groaned, “Ugh…what happened.” Suddenly, she stiffened up. “He gone? The octopus—is he gone?” “Yes, Nunya,” said Gray. “The octopus was not real. It was a hallucionation.” Suddenly, her eyes narrowed. “What idiot pulled a prank like that? Ooh—I’ll give it to ‘em! I tell you I will—” “I don’t think it was any person,” said Road. “Probably environmental or something. I don’t know.” Cas nodded. “Well—come on, we need to find the rest.” Lunifer was in quite a predicament. We came across an extremely tall rock, that appeared to be poking through the top of the fog. On the top, dangling off was Lunifer. We could barely hear her screams. “Dang girl, how’d you get up there?” said Nunya. “So—who’s gonna climb up there to save her?” asked Caspiea. “I got it. Just spot me, okay?” said Gray. “Wait—what?!” Gray rolled up his sleeves, rubbed his hands together, grabbed a rugged part of the rug and scurried up. He wasn’t too bad a climber. He was up near Luni in no time. All they were were tiny specks. Suddenly, the two specks got closer, and closer. Gray guided a whimpering Luni down the rock. “How could I, of all people, be stuck on a horrible moon? The whole thing just started shaking, earthquakes the land cracking! Would’ve fell off the side if you didn’t save me.” We could hear Luni blabbling about the halluctionation she got. “Eh—don’t mention it.” It was just Flaming, Ice, and Klint left. “For the record, I hate this.” Flaming was standing in the middle of no where, obviously agitated. “All I could’ve asked was a nice bowl of cereal in my nice home, with a good ole bed and air conditioning. Instead, here I am. In the middle of a video game.” Ah, so he must’ve been in Don’t Starve. Typical. “Yo Flaming,” called Roadhawk. “You’re in a hallucionation. Just walk out.” “Aw, great, I’m stuck in a video game with the wiki. This day just keeps getting better and better.” “You know—leaving him wouldn’t be an issue…” I started. “Yeah, I mean, he doesn’t seem terrorized or anything…” said Caspiea. Gray shot us both a look. “Fine.” Gray walked up to Flaming, grabbed him by the arm, and walked out. “So what now?” said Flaming, as if nothing had happened. “Icefern—and Klint—are left.” “How could you?” screamed Ice. “I-I just don’t get it. First, I find out you are real. Next, you turn on me. And I’m your biggest fan! How could you—Raven?!” “Girl, I feel you,” said Caspiea. Icefern stiffened up. “Cas?” Then, she shrieked, falling back. She cringed, covering her face. Roadhawk and Gray ran to her, grabbed her, and ran out. “Guys! Thank goodness!” Ice hugged both of them. “Okay, we’ve got our wiki, let’s go!” said Gray, seeming in a hurry. “What about Klint?” asked Lunifer. “Yeah, ole’ Klinny,” said Nunya. “Uh—I’m sure she’s fine. Let’s just…” “We’ve gotta get Klint, Gray,” said Road, crossing his arms. “Oh gee…do we have to? I mean, she’s 17 so she’ll probably— ” “YES!” we all snapped. “Fine.” Klint probably needed help. She was wide-eyed, ontop a tree, bracing herself from something. “My guess, The Walking Dead,” said Roadhawk. “Yeah, probably,” I replied. Gray, grumbling, walked over to Klint, grabbed her by both wrists, and ran her back to us. “Thank goodness that’s over with,” he panted. Klint stiffened. “Uh…did Gray just save me?!” “Shaddup,” hissed Gray. “So, that’s everyone,” said Caspiea. “Where to now?” “Well—we’re gonna have to find the rest of the wiki,” said Gray, still agitated. Klint dusted herself off. “We fell down here—so we should probably head upwards.” “YEAH, WHAT DO YOU EXPECT US TO DO, YOU IDIOT, FLY?! THERE AREN’T ANY CLIFFS OR ANY WAY TO GET UP!” Gray, flustered, calmed down. “Sorry.” We all were surprised by his snapping. “Well—we might as well look for a way up,” sighed Icefern. “Yeah—come one guys,” said Gray. Chapter 5: Reunite We walked together, blindly forward, discussing what had just happened. Klint and Gray walked quite far away from each other. “So lemme get this straight,” said Lunifer. “Out in the middle of no where, there is deep quicksand, runaway tigers, and apparently some sort of place that gives you hallucinations and can kill you.” “Strangely enough, we didn’t encounter any of this stuff on our way here,” said Flaming. “Ugh,” said Caspiea. “I just don’t get this!” “This adventure has been…eventful,” said Klint. “Hope we can just get this over with.” Gray nodded and kicked a pebble. “How did we get the illusions though?” I asked. “My guess is all that fog had something to do with it,” said Road, straightening up. “Upon inhaling it, it messed up your brain and thinking styles. In other words, you went crazy.” “Gee, thanks,” said Nunya, poking him. I shuddered as I thought back to the Cookie People and animals. Seeming so cute and fluffy before—but just not… Suddenly, I heard Flaming yell, “Yo guys, check it out!” We all ran ahead. “Oh, thank goodness!” cried Klint. Before us, was a tall, broad, rocky cliff. “Great, how do we get up there?” asked Ice. I walked ahead, rolled up my sleeves, and reached up. I grasped a rock and pushed myself up, resting my feet on a rock beneath. “Climb, of course! Might be dangerous but probably not that hard.” “You insane?” cried Lunifer. “Look—it’s the only way up. And Gray apparently was able to climb up and save YOU without a problem.” “That was different,” said Gray. “It was at an upwards angle, almost like steps. This is straight up, uneven, rocky…” “Its that or we starve to death down here—or get caught in another illusion,” said Road. He rolled up his sleeves and climbed up next to me. “You guys can stay down here—but me and Puppy are getting outta ‘ere.” Caspiea climbed up with us. “So long, guys!” “Fine…” said Klint. “It is the only way up…com’on, guys,” said Gray. At first, the climbing wasn’t that hard. That was until the rocks protruded out so far that it served as almost a roof. We didn’t need a roof. We needed to climb UP. “Oh gosh, what now?!” We weren’t that high up, but if one of us fell we would be pretty injured. “We’re stuck!” shrieked Nunya. “Stuck with a bunch of noobs from the wiki. How wonderful,” said Flaming. Road reached over far enough to punch him in the arm. “So the question is, how we get up there?” said Klint. I thought for a moment. Suddenly, I got a wild, un-thought idea. “Guys—spot me.” “Wait…what?” I pressed my feet hard against the rock I was balancing on. Then, I began leaning back as far as possible. “Puppy, what the heck are you doing?!” snapped Klint. “Oh gosh…” started Gray. I then released one hand, and reached forward. It scraped against the bottom. Grunting, I slowly moved my feet up the wall slightly. “Oh gosh she’s gonna fall…” started Caspiea. I reached my other arm out. I felt small wisps of air—I was just at the edge of it. Just needed a bit more… My feet any higher would result with me plummeting to my possible death. I just had to reach for it…and I would go longer if I used both arms. I took a deep breath, shut my eyes, released my other hand and reached towards it. I missed, and I shrieked as I almost fell…but I felt someone’s hand on my back holding me up. I couldn’t even see who. “Thank you,” I gasped, and pushed myself up, using my legs and arms. Reaching, I finally grasped the edge. “I got it!” Then, using every muscle in my body, I pushed my self forward—causing me to swing. I gritted my teeth to keep from screaming, then quickly with my other hand grabbed the side. I was now dangling. But I was alive. “Thank goodness!” panted Nunya. I growled as I pushed down hard on the side, pushing myself up and over the top. I flopped on the edge, panting. I was on a protruding edge—there still was a ways to go. I turned back around, leaning on my belly, and reached my hands under the ledge. “Someone grab my hands, I’ll help you up!” I felt someone’s hands in mine, and I pulled them up. Nunya fell next to me, panting. One by one, we helped the rest of the kids up. Gray, of course, being the strongest, had to help up Klint yet again. “This must be one of the worst days ever,” he grunted. We sat there to catch our breath, turned around, and started to climb up again. It was quite difficult, but not that hard, and our muscles were already revved up from that last obstacle. Finally, I pushed myself up, and gasped. I was at the top. Turning around, I helped the other wiki members, and we all collapsed, panting. “We did it…” panted Ice. “We climbed a cliff-wall!” said Lunifer. “Hip…hip…” started Nunya. “Oh gosh no,” said Flaming. After about ten minutes of catching our breath, we all got up and dusted ourselves off. “Which way?” asked Klint. “Not sure…let’s just go this way.” Gray pointed to the left of us. “Probably the direction where we were anyway.” We trudged for quite a while…the sun setting. Probably a good 4 hours passed, until we all were exhausted. We agreed to another rest-stop…and this time we all conked out, or at least I did. Doubt we even had anyone to keep watch. It was a good thing we weren't attacked during sleep. I woke up 2nd to last—Roadhawk still sleep. And that’s when the stomach started growling. As if reading my mind, Cas groaned, “Oh gosh—haven’t had anything to eat in like, what, a day?” “With all the action, we probably forgot to, and now it’s caught up to us,” Flaming sighed. “Well—we didn’t wind up in the middle of a buffet, sadly, so what’re we to eat?” asked Klint. I heard the sound of Road stirring, and turned to see him sitting up and rubbing his eyes. “Erm, I remember reading somewhere, a group of climbers were on top of a mountain—and it’d gotten so bad they had to eat each other to prevent starvation.” We stared at him. “So—who goes first?” said Lunifer. “I vote Klint, she’s the biggest,” said Gray. “Heck no—Roadhawk, he might taste like chicken,” said Klint. “No, I say Puppy. She’s the sweetest anyway,” suggested Roadhawk. “Thanks for your ‘compliment’. I pick NunyaPie. She has ‘Pie’ in her name anyway,” I said. “Erm—wat?” Nunya piped. “GUYS! Nobody is eating anyone! We can just hunt or something.” My eyes widened. “You mean…EAT an innocent animal?” “You wanna starve?” snapped Roadhawk. I crossed my arms and kicked a pebble. “Fine.” “So, we’re going to need some hunting equipment,” said Klint. “Such as a knife or a bow…” Then, we heard a gurgling noise. We turned, just in time to see a wild turkey walking around. “It’s so cute!” I cried. “Let’s get it!” yelled Luni. “We don’t have any weapons!” cried Klint. “Then, we can get it the old fashioned way,” said Road. He ran over to the turkey and pounced on it. “Not sure if that’s ‘old fashioned’…” started Caspiea. It was just the Hawk wrestling the Turkey. “How on earth is he going to KILL it?” asked Ice. We heard a yowl of pain. Probably the turkey pecking and pulling at Roadie. “Someone should probably help him…” said Nunya. “Eh, what’s the point? Apparently he’s got it,” said Flaming. Finally, we heard a gasp. Road got up, holding the turkey by the neck. His face had blood dripping down, his clothes were torn, and he had a whole collection of scratches. “Here…here…here…we go.” “So, we’re going to eat it raw?” said Flaming. Road groaned. “No—we’re going to cook it, of course. We’re going to need to make a fire.” Gray clapped his hands. “Split up, guys, collect sticks and stones. Just don’t break my bones.” We did just that, and soon we had a whole pile of sticks and stones. Afterwards, Klint got two sticks, rubbed them together, and in about 20 minutes, she’d created a spark, then a flame. We plucked the feathers off the turkey, slid it on a long stick, then roasted it above the fire. “To tell the truth,” said Lunifer. “I’d never known I would do this. You know, get a fresh wild turkey and roast it on a spit.” “Just trying not to think of all the bacteria we could be getting from this.” Caspiea shuddered. When the turkey was done, we split it up and ate. Oh gosh, we were hungry. We’d cleaned the bird in no time. After our meal, we got back up and continued our walk. “Oh, this is useless!” cried Flaming, after about two hours of walking. “We won’t ever reunite with them.” “Stop being such a stick in the mud.” Nunya poked him. “We’ll find ‘em, don’t worry.” But on the inside I was feeling about as hopeless. What if we never found our friends? What if we never found ANYONE? We’d be stuck here…living off wild turkey…just a small pack of kids doing their best to— I heard a faint noise. I looked up. It sounded like someone shouting…a very distant voice. I heard it again, but slightly stronger, and actually heard multiple ones. “What’s that?” I asked. Suddenly, I heard Road cry, “OVER THERE!” He was pointing in the distance. All I saw was a dot. I narrowed my eyes. I caught sight of a face…multiple faces…so tiny…but so familiar… “IT’S THEM!” cried Caspiea. Our wiki. We didn’t even think. We just ran towards them. Now, I’m sure none of us figured each other to be so connected/attached to be so emotional in a reunitement, but none the less, we were all hugging. “I can’t believe you guys are alive!” cried Jeff. “What the heck would we do without our Wiki Leader,” asked Avalon, gesturing to Gray. “So what happened?” asked Lilypop. Caspiea grabbed her Cry plushie—don’t ask where she’d gotten that from/how she was carrying it all this time—and grinned. “We had quite our own adventure, if I do say so myself.” “It was hardcore.” Roadhawk shook his head. “Com’on…” I heard a scratchy voice say. We all looked over to see Anakin, kind of unbalanced but nonetheless standing. “You must be lying. Had your own simple, fun freaking time while the rest of us here had to suffer. You little—” “Excuse me?” said Caspiea. She tilted her head and blinked her eyes. “What did you say? It sounded like you said we had our own ‘simple, fun, freaking’ time.” “Yeah, probably did.” Caspiea’s eye twitched. “You do believe that don’t you? That we were on some stupid Happy-Go-Lucky trip while you had some real suffering? EH?!” ”Cas…” started Gray. “Hmm, wow, Anakin. I shall have you know, while YOU guys were up here, just in a big group, WE WERE ATTACKED—ATTACKED…ALMOST DEAD…” “Erm…” “AND WE WERE HANGING OFF A CLIFF—A FREAKING CLIFF—HAVING TO CLIMB IT UP. ONLY TO EAT SOME RANDOM WILD TURKEY, FOR ALL WE KNOW HAD A BUNCH OF DISEASES…but no…no…no…we were having a WONDERFUL time…” I saw her slide something out her pocket. Her eyes were wild. “You…little…” I’d finally seen what she was pulling out: a knife. I opened my mouth to say something— Then she lunged on him. “CAS!” cried Mango. But there was no stopping her. “YOU FREAKING LITTLE SPOILED BRAT—I WILL SHOW YOU PAIN…” All we heard was a cry of pain, and that was it. It took Deputron to pull her off Anakin. He was limp, wide eyed, mouth adjar, blood pouring down his neck. In other words, he was dead. Everyone gasped. “Oh well, he had a good life, let’s move on,” said Flaming. Everyone stared from him to Cas. Caspiea looked flustered and panted. “That was…uh…well…um…” Lilypop sobbed. But no one else seemed phased by it. Just pretty freaked out. "Wait, wait--couldn't she have used the knife to, I don't know, kill the turkey I had to wrestle?" asked Flaming. Cas shrugged. "Road already seemed like he had it. I was just going to stay out of it. Plus, this knife is specifically for my rage." “Note to self,” started Luna. “Do not get Caspiea agitated.” “Wisdom, Luna.” Caspiea replaced her knife back in her pocket. “You speak nothing but wisdom.” ' ' Chapter 6: The Hill We traveled in complete silence. But suddenly, after about 10 minutes of it, Road rushed over to Caspiea, grabbed her wrist, and held it high in the air. "Three cheers for this epic girl!" "No," said Lunifer. "I wanted to kill him." "And you don't think I did too?" asked Road, dropping Caspiea's wrist. "But in the end...he's dead, and Cas was the one who caused it. I say she deserves a round of applause!" "Can we please not celebrate the murder?" asked Gray, although he did seem lighter than usual. "Fine," said Road, crossing his arms. "Just wondering how Bunnybunny will react," said Ice, shaking her head. "Eh, still wondering why she even fell in LOVE with that lunatic," said Hurricane. "Could've picked better, in my opinion." "The world may never know," said Universal. Caspiea held up her Garry plushie--again do not ask, none of us knew how she got it or how she was carrying it. "Didn't have a toostie pop so this should do." Handy Helper laughed. I turned, to see Deputron whispering something to Klint. A wide smile grew on her face, and she stood up broad. "Animal Jam Wiki, if I may have your attention, Dep would like to annouce something." Deputron beamed, head held high. "Well actually...I'll just show you." He walked off for a bit, and came back dragging something. The wagon. "I improved it while the others weren't paying attention. This time, it shouldn't break, and if does ''happen to malfunction, it should be minor enough to be fixed quickly." "Yay!" we cheered. "It better NOT malfunction, Dep. I will tell you!" snapped Mango. Deputron rolled his eyes. We all piled into the wagon, and Klint reved it up. After about 10 minutes, Ice asked, "Do we have any idea where the heck we're going?" "Yup," said Rek. "While you guys were dazing randomly, we were heading in the same direction. But we weren't exactly traveling. You guys being gone held us up--so we had to walk pretty slowly and even STOP for most the time." I could see Caspiea tense up and edge her hand towards her pocket, and then I grabbed her wrist. "She didn't mean it like that." Caspiea nodded, and relaxed again. "Well," groaned Chief. "That's one more day added to our adventure time span." "Well, thanks to Dep, we have this wagon, so it shouldn't be that hard," said Klint. Thank goodness, the road wasn't nearly as bumpy anymore. In fact, it was actually a quite soothing ride. I felt my body relax, and then closed my eyes. When I finally woke up, it was dark outside, and half the wiki users were sleep. The rest were looking around tentively, and Klint was still manning the wheel. In the distance, I saw a bump. "What's that?" Flaming, who was starting to doze off, straightened up and said, "That's it! The hill." "Thank goodness!" said Diamond. "Finally!" said Avalon. In relief, I slumped back in my chair. I stared at the hill, watching it grow bigger as we drove towards it. Somewhere, either in or on it, was the Silver Key, and we could finally grab it and go home. "Wonder where the key is," said Gray, resting his head on his palms and tilting it. "Guess we'll find that out soon," said Klint, running her hand through her long, brown hair. The two conversing? Thank goodness neither one of 'em got out a knife and cut the other's throat. I stared in awe and anticipation. Part of me couldn't wait to get there and get it over with. But the other part of me wanted to take its time, relax and enjoy the ride. Either way, what lied within that hill was awaiting us. I leaned back, and closed my eyes again. Every time I'd opened them, the hill would be somewhat closer. That hill held secrets, answers, opprotunity. And the end of this tale. I looked around at our fellow Wiki users, either sawin' logs or looking as excited as I was. Jeff was sitting next to me, looking half dozed, half awake. I poked him. "Yo, Jeff." He lurched up. "Eh..yeah?" "So, how're you feeling about this entire set-up?" I asked. He shrugged. "Dunno really. Just know that that key better be somewhere in that hill. But a nice adventure, you know?" I nodded. "But," he said, "I have this sinking feeling we're going to regret this. Well--I'm regretting it already." "We had better not regret this!" I said, tensing up. "I know." Jeff stretched. "So, what'd happened when you guys fell?" I told him the story of the hallicunations and the cliff. "Dang--that is something! But Cookie People tho..." he laughed. I poked him again. "Hmm..." I heard Universal stirring next to me. "Hey, Uni," I said. "Hallicunations? Sounds quite unnatural," she said. I poked her again. "You're eavsdropping? I'm surprised!" She stretched. "Not intentional, by the way, just overheard. It IS quite interesting. So many unnatural things--random quicksand, a whole group of tigers, poisonous fog that gives you illusions--in the middle of random land. Very interesting, and quite an add-on to the adventure." We nodded. We just chatted amongst ourselves, until finally we reached the hill. It towered over us. No doubt was this the "highest peak". "Whew, I'm beat," said Klint. "Dep, your turn. Dep...?" Deputron was in the back, concked out. Klint walked over to him and shoved him. "Your. Turn. To. Drive. Up. Da. Hill." Dep jerked away, nodded, then ran to the front. Klint got in where he was originally and was snoring soon after. Deputron revved up the wagon, and did his best driving up the hill. It was a steep and rough path, but by all means were we able to drive up. After riding up for about 70 minutes, Dep stopped the wagon. "It's gotten too steep. Going to have to walk the rest of the way." We groaned, but nodded. And we woke everyone in the wagon up. Many groaned, but nonetheless got up. Klint cried, "Oh, com'on!" Dep stuck out his tongue. We started hiking up. Dep wasn't kidding when he said it was steep. It started out at first being a difficult walk, but it got so bad that we had to actually ''climb. Many clutched on the grass for dear life. But a few folks, with the most amazing balance, coordination, agility, and shoes, were able to still walk up, but with a lot of difficulty. We heard a wheeze and a whine. "Oh, must we do this?" whined Digipony. "I'm afraid we have to," said Klint. "But it's soooooooo hard," cried Digi. "Please stop whining," said Road. "We all have to do it." "But Ima fall! And this is really stupid." "You won't fall," said Gray. "Just make sure you maintain a good grip." "No! Ugh, I hate this!" said Digipony. She complained for a good 10 minutes. Every single wiki user, even Lilypop, got annoyed. Finally, Roadhawk got fed up. "Shut up, Digi! Your whining's not going to help anyone! In fact, its tensing up everyone else, so WE might be the ones to fall." She narrowed her eyes. "YOU shut up Road. Ohmygosh you are so mean. I thought we were friends but ugh, you are such a BLEEEEEEEEP and so is Deputron because he said the wagon would work and--" "DIGI SHADDUP!" shouted Roadhawk. "NO, YOU SHUT UP, YOU LITTLE PIECE OF--" Finally, in rage, Roadhawk kicked Digi, and, shrieking, she lost grip and toppled to the ground. It was so far a drop we didn't even hear her hit the ground. A few users gasped, some shrieked. Mario gasped, "Oh thank goodness." Road panted, and rolled his eyes. "Dang you, Road!" snapped Flaming. "You beat me to it." So, officially two of our users were dead. Mario placed a hand on Road's shoulder. "You, and me, best buds now." Evilrainbow wheezed a bit, still looking at the direction of where Digipony fell. Then, she shook her head. "Com'on." The climb was intense. But thankfully, without Digi's blabbering, it was a lot easier. Finally, Hurricane cried, "At last!" We all heaved ourselves up on a short, flat piece of land. Heck no, was it the top. But from here on out we could walk. "Goodness, how tall is this thing?" asked Frost. "Obviously, extremely," said Count. Suddenly, we all heard a growl. "Someone's hungry," teased Ferro. But then, Fishgirl shrieked. We turned around and gasped in terror. There, only a few yards away, was a snarling, giant wolf. Who was probably rabid, as shown by the rolling eyes and frothing mouth. "We should probably run," said Handy. "Uh, do you WANT to die?" said Icefern. "Running only makes the animal want to chase you." "So great, we should just stay here while he tears us apart," said Mango. "No, back away slowly." "Oh, great, so we back away slowly, giving the wolf as much time as it needs to tear us apart," snapped Count. "Well thought-out, Ice, very well thought-out." One tiny part of me was like, "ITS SO CUTE! JUST A BIG OLE PUPPY." The rest of me was like, "It's a rabid wolf. Either kill it or get the heck up outta there." I could see that the wolf had only three legs. Probably got rabid from some other animal, that it was fighting. That, or it'd lost it leg some other way, possibly a birth defect. Either way, I wasn't going to sit here wondering the wolf's story. Apparently, I was going to sit here while I wondering what the heck everyone else was doing instead of getting our highney's out there. "Guys--the wolf is getting closer!" cried Lilypop, eyes widened. Misslilytoon shut her eyes, bracing. "Oh crap...we're doomed..." said Lunifer. "Great," said Caspiea. "I don't even know what too--" But Ferro couldn't finish her sentence, because all we saw was a blurr, as Diamond ran towards the wolf. "DIAMOND! WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU--" Diamond got close to the wolf, made a U-Turn, and ran back to us. The wolf dropped dead. We all just froze up. "What the--" Diamond panted, and held up a syringe. "Posion. This is a type of chemical that'll kill in seconds. Always carry it around with me." We blinked. We couldn't even ASK. "Uh...okay...?" said Klint. "Let's...erm...just go," said Gray. Rabid Wolf equals to Wolfs333AJ Chapter 7: The Silver Key "Alright, folks, it's best we start searching!" said Gray. "Spread out, and see if you can find The Key." We all nodded. "I'll put you guys in groups," continued Gray. "Just so you can look out for each other." Once Gray paired us all up--I got paired with Icefern--and assigned us different places to look, we set off. "So, if I were a key, were would I be?" I wondered aloud. "Probably on a keychain," said Icefern, sticking her tongue out. We walked blindly forward for a while, searching the ground for any sign of a key. There was none. I don't know how long we were searching for, an hour maybe? Or two? "Ugh--this is freakishly nerve wracking!" said Ice. "I know. Well, we didn't find anything, we should probably go see if the others did." Ice nodded, and we headed back towards the starting point. There, we saw confused groups of the wiki standing. "Thank goodness, girls!" said Gray as we approached. "Did you find anything?" We shook our heads. The wiki groaned. "Did you?" "None of us," moaned Jeff. "Just...nothing." Mario narrowed his eyes, and crossed his arms. "I KNEW we would regret this--I just knew!" "You mean to tell me...this entire adventure was a WASTE?!" screamed Caspiea, hands shaking in fury. "Oh I will--" started Road. Gray, looking as furious as we were all, held up his hands to silence us. "Okay, so the Silver Key apparently is not here. I guess it was some other 'highest peak'. My suggestion is we head back to the shack, and re-read the clues." We groaned, and nodded. Thank goodness we had the wagon--but it would still take days to go back. Stupid hill. ___________________________________________________________________________________ Gray pushed the door of the shack open. We all toppled in. "Oh shack, I'd just met you, and didn't know how much I'd miss you!" said Count. Luna sighed of relief and flopped into a dusty, broken couch. Gray pulled the note out his pocket, took Pookie's flashlight, and reread. ''"In order to obtain the Silver Key, you must look and think beyond the obvious. Venture to the highest peak to find it. You shall not regret your decisions unless you make incorrect ones."'' "Well, we sure made incorrect ones!" said Frost, shooting a glare at Reka and Flaming. "Look and think beyond the obvious..." said Universal. She shook her head. "Didn't think the hill would be obvious...what're they trying to tell us." I pondered on that. Look and think beyond the obvious. Look and think beyond the obvious. '''Look and think '''beyond the obvious. I thought about the whole concept of the Silver Key. The Silver Key...sent by Wikia to the Animal Jam Wiki... And the highest peak... Ohmygosh. Oh. My. Gosh. "Oh...my...." I stammered. The room was spinning. My head was throbbing. I couldn't stand and I had to hold onto the wall for balance. "What is it, Puppy?" asked Gray. I touched my hand to my forehead. "I can't freaking believe it. Is there a computer?" Gray gestured to the corner of the shack. In it, was an old desk, and on top it, a black rectangle--a closed laptop. I walked over to it, flipped it open, and turned it on. "What are you doing, Puppy?" asked Road. "Getting the 'Silver Key'," I said. Everyone looked at me in confusion. I went onto the internet and typed "Wikia" in the search engine. I went to their website, went to "Spotlights", and searched for AJ Wiki. After it popped up, I studied it for a second, then right-clicked the icon. There was a new command up, called "Redirect". I clicked it, and the screen loaded for a bit. Then, it took us to a new wiki. It had a bright, silver background, with a colorful font. The title read, "Best of the Best", and in the description: "Award for the 2nd Top wiki we have." I scooted my chair back. "Behold: The Freaking Silver Key." Everyone titled their heads in confusion. "The Silver Key. Anyone notice? WiKI. Pronouced We-KEY." They blinked. "Silver, secondary prize, also expressed to icon wealth. The highest peak: Spotlights, where normally wikis reach the highest peak in terms of users." Everyone stared at me, eyes wide, mouth adajar, leaned forward a bit. "So voila! The Silver Key is a website. A stinkin' website." Some eyes twitched. "So what you are pretty much saying..." said Road, "is that while we were out, on a who-knows-how-many mile, 5 day trip, getting our rears handed to us, dangling off the verge of DEATH...all we had to do...was walk 2 feet to the side...to get our key...which is a website...?" "Yes..." I said, eyes narrowing. We all just stood silent. Then, turning to the computer, we all screamed, "WHY YOU--" Then we all died. ''The End''''' (lol kinda jk on the death part...)